Fox News announced that it will hold a second town hall with 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Jan. 26 in Iowa.
“We are pleased to host Mayor Buttigieg for the second time this election cycle for a timely town hall in the influential state of Iowa,” Jay Wallace, president and executive editor of FOX News Media, said in a statement. “Once again, we are looking forward to providing our millions of viewers with an insightful discussion ahead of the first major contest of the primary season.” The event will be hosted by Chris Wallace.
Buttigieg’s first town hall on the network took place in May and had slightly more than a million viewers. That event was also hosted by Chris Wallace. Hours before the town hall was set to begin, President Trump lashed out at the conservative-leaning network for giving airtime to the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, whom he often likens to MAD magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman.
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….who got them there. Chris Wallace said, “I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.” Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
“Hard to believe that @FoxNews is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as Chris Wallace likes to call him. Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in. They forgot the people…..,” Trump tweeted, adding, “….who got them there. Chris Wallace said, ‘I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.’ Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!”
A representative for the network did not directly comment on Trump’s attack on Wallace at the time, but pointed to a recent panel where the anchor responded to Trump saying he likes his father more by saying, “To which my reaction is always: One of us has a daddy problem, and it’s not me.”
The network has hosted town halls with other 2020 candidates, including former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Fox’s town hall with Sanders in April remains the highest-rated town hall of any candidate this cycle in total viewership, with 2.5 million viewers.
